


When The Party’s Over

by yoshimis_island



Category: Scooby Doo - All Media Types
Genre: Bad coping mechanisms, Depression, Did I Spell That Right?, Drug Use, Hurt/Comfort, Isolation, Marijuana, Mental Illness, Panic Attacks, Recreational Drug Use, Weed, also in like two of those tapes shaggy is collecting somebody’s estate, and he talks, author has dyslexia, but I do not, can i get an f in the chat, crying in the first chapter, except not that much comfort tbh, i have bad coping mechanisms and now so do my faves, i know a lot of people headcannon that, i wrote this for me but you can read it if you want, just like in the show bc this is all based off the 6 vhs tapes i have, mensions of alchohol abuse, mostly just emotional support tho, sad fic, scooby is kind of a service dog?, shaggy is sad my dudes, shaggy isn’t vegetarian/vegan in this, so most of shag’s fam is dead, suicidal idealation, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 15:27:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18853843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshimis_island/pseuds/yoshimis_island
Summary: After Daph and Velma moved to the next town over to go to college, Shaggy kind of fell apart. Now that there are no more mysteries to solve and no more friends to hang out with, what’s Shag to do?Losing friends sucks.





	When The Party’s Over

Shaggy wasn’t one for moping around. He didn’t see the point, it didn’t make him feel better. If anything, thinking about his problems only made them more prominent and therefore worse. 

No, what made Shaggy feel better was hanging out with his best buddies. Late nights watching movies, listening to Daphne’s latest take on politics, Velma info dumping about whatever she happened to be reading that week, looking at Freddy's newest build sketches. There was also getting spooked out of his mind, wandering around creepy abandoned places, solving mysteries. Everything was fun with the gang. 

Not that it mattered anymore. 

The smoke burned his lungs and he muffled a cough. It smelled green, floating away in the evening breeze. Shag wished he could drift off with it. His legs dangled off the cliff face, in the distance he could see the lights coming on all across town. The sun was setting, leaving the sky stained orange and purple. 

Shaggy brought a hand to his face and wiped away the tears from his cheek. He wasn’t sad, why would he be? He was too high to be sad! It’s not like he had feelings or some dumb shit. Nope. 

The van door creaked and he didn’t need to look back to know who it was. No one else was ever around anymore. Scoob walked over and nosed at Shaggy’s hand, the one that wasn’t holding the pipe. He pulled the great dane in, scratching his ears. 

“Raggy, it’s rokay. Rey woulrn’t reave jus rike rat.” Scooby licked Shaggy’s cheek, trying to comfort his friend. 

A shuddering sob caught in Shag’s throat before he could swallow it. He wished that were true, but it’s been months since he’d heard from any of them. Surely if any of the gang were still interested in being friends they would have reached out by now. Given him a call. Answered his texts. Anything.

Fred hadn’t even moved away, just decided that Shaggy was more trouble than he was worth. Harsh, but not unfair. Shaggy just wished they had all come to their senses before he had found out how nice having a family could be. Before he knew what he was missing. 

Instead of saying any of that, he forced his face into a watery grin. “I’m okay, Scoob. We’re okay. Like, we don’t need those guys anyway man.”

He took another hit, his hands shaking so badly it was hard to get the lighter to catch. 

“Raggy,” Scoob knocked his shoulder against Shaggy’s, “rey’re rour riends, Raggy. Rey’re romin rack.”

Hot tears blurred Shaggy’s vision, slipping down his cheeks freely. The sun was almost gone, the last rays slipping out of view, leaving only the lights of the town below them and a few early summer fireflies. 

The last time he’d seen any of them felt  
so long ago now, considering that they’d spent most days together for the last few years. Daph and Velma may have come home for winter break, but they hadn’t bothered to call. Not that he had any claim on their time, they were so busy with school. 

He wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong, how he’d fucked up his perfect little family and made his favorite people in the whole world give up on him without a word, but at this point it didn’t really matter. They were honestly better off without him. But he could tell that Scoob missed them. 

Shaggy took a few deep breaths, trying to follow the pattern his therapist insisted would help. It never seemed to, but that was probably just him fucking it up. Instead his form shook on the exhale and Shaggy ached from trying to hold it in. He shouldn’t be breaking down in front of his best buddy. He had to be strong for Scoob, he’d gotten both of them into this mess, the least he could do was keep his spirits up for his only remaining friend. 

His breathing evened out eventually. He didn’t have the stamina for a long drawn out panic attack tonight. Most of the time they left him shaky and dead tired after just a few minutes. 

He was starving. The energy drain from the meltdown on top of the munchies had him desperate for a snack. 

Shag took one last look over the cliff side before knocking the ash out of his pipe. He pushed himself to his feet, dislodging Scoob in the process. “C’mon Scooby doo, like, I could really go for a cheeseburger right now.” 

Scoob’s ears perked up. “Re roo.” 

Scooby climbed into the cab and sat in the passenger's seat. Shaggy slid into the drivers side, setting his pipe into the little bag that held his weed. The mystery machine rumbled to life and started down the hill. 

 

_______________________________________

 

It was hard for Fred to concentrate with all the screaming downstairs. He couldn’t be certain without cracking the door open to listen, but odds were his dad had come home drunk again. Nothing got Mr.Jones into a blind rage like a few too many. 

Not that his mom was any better, he could hear her voice pitched to an ear shattering tone before- yep, that crash was probably her body hitting whatever was closest. It sounded like the dining room china cabinet from the smash of broken glass. 

Fred looked up from his intro to engineering homework to the window. It would be risky to sneak out, god knows his dad was already pissed, but he couldn’t stand this. The noise was driving him crazy, he could feel his legs twitching as his mind screamed at him to bolt. 

His hands flapped nervously, trying to shake off the fight or flight energy. Fred ran them through his hair before deciding that he wasn't going to sleep tonight either way, he might as well get his homework done. 

Quietly as he could, Fred closed his books and slipped them into a bag and slowly made his way to the window. He stepped carefully, avoiding squeaky floorboards and staying close to the load bearing wall. 

He tried to keep the window well oiled so it wouldn’t creak in situations like this, but the window didn’t seem to get the message because it squealed twice as he pried it open. He froze both times, but the screaming downstairs never even slowed. Fred slipped out onto the roof and closed the window just as he heard the faint echo of another plate smashing downstairs. 

Fred’s nerves were still on fire as he slipped down the terrace he had built for his mother’s roses (It was decorative and pragmatic! Fred had designed it himself). The jitters didn’t really fade until he was a few blocks down, out of sight of the house. 

If his folks noticed he was gone, Fred was in for a world of trouble later, but it was worth it just to be away from the noise. 

The ringing in his ears was slow to leave, but Fred was a million miles away, watching the streets go by like it was happening to someone else. 

He didn’t know when it had gotten this bad, but he ached for a time when his parents had at least pretended to love each other. Maybe it had always been like this and Fred was just too wrapped up in his own little world to see the bruises on his mother or the cold cruelty in his father’s eyes. Fred liked to believe it hadn’t. 

When he zoned back in, Fred saw that in his absence his stupid feet had taken him to the last (home he knew) place he wanted to be. The Rodgers family mansion loomed up from the end of the street, inviting him back like it was that simple. 

It had been a while since Fred had seen Shaggy, thinking about him felt like digging his nails into an open wound. 

He still loved Shag, of course he did! They’d been friends through some of the toughest years of Freddie’s life. But once Daphne and Velma moved into the college dorms an hour and a half away and didn’t have time for mysteries, Shaggy had fallen apart. 

They always knew he smoked weed, but suddenly Shag wasn’t ever sober. And his miniature breakdowns happened so often. Fred honestly didn’t know which he hated more: when Shaggy was sobbing so hard it made Fred’s ribs ache in sympathy, or after the fact, when Shag would act like his goofy old self so convincingly that if Fred hadn’t seen, he would assume everything was fine (save for the dark circles around his friend’s bloodshot eyes). 

After all of his father’s drinking, Fred couldn’t stand the sight of Shag smoking his brain away. He had asked Shaggy to stop, and Shag had let Fred know just how close to the edge really he was, and had been, probably for a long while. 

It had just been too much, the last thing Fred needed was to lose his best friend. So he made a choice. He wasn’t going to watch his friend kill himself. No, Fred was a coward. He walked away, hoping that the death of a familiar stranger might be easier to swallow. Certainly easier to ignore. 

Fred hadn’t seen Shaggy in a while. He also hasn’t read his name in the papers obituary, so if he’s dead, nobody knows. 

He wasn’t proud of his choices, okay? Fred was just young and tired and afraid. Maybe it wasn’t right for Fred to ditch Shaggy, but fuck, it wasn’t his problem. If Shag was going to drive himself off a cliff, Fred was bailing before he started the climb. Maybe he should reach out. Maybe he could help the person who had once been one of his best friends in the whole world. 

But who knew if Shaggy even wanted to see him. Soon after Fred had stopped answering his phone, Shaggy quit calling. He always was sensitive about people leaving. 

Not surprising after his parents died, his uncle died, and then that other uncle died. Rather than finding Shag a new guardian, the courts had declared him an emancipated minor at 16 and left him alone with depression and the Rodgers family fortune. While Fred had to save every dollar he had from his shitty job just to pay for his community college tuition, Shag was comfortably funding his drug habit. 

Not that he blamed Shaggy for having money. Fuck knows Shag was generous with it. Freddie hadn’t bought himself lunch the whole time they were in high school because Shag would always bring them all something. If the whole gang was eating, well, was Fred really going to let his pride get in the way of a decent meal? 

Shag had offered him a place to live away from his folks. He’s pretty sure Shag had convinced Velma to let him help pay for her tuition. Anything to keep them around. And now look at them, scattered to the wind. Fred missed the gang. 

He kept walking. There was no point crying over the past. He had homework to do. A job to keep. Life to live (no matter how empty it felt).

He was busy. 

 

_______________________________________

 

Shaggy stumbled into his home with a bag of cheeseburgers and a couple of milkshakes. Scooby trailed close behind following the scent. 

He threw his keys down on the kitchen counter. “Like, hello empty house! Anything happening around here?” No answer came. Shaggy hadn’t really expecting one, not unless the cleaning ladies had come on the wrong day six hours later than usual. Or Fred had stopped by. But, Fred never stopped by anymore. 

Shaggy started flipping on all the lights. He hated how empty and spooky the house always was after dark. He needed a distraction, some noise. 

A sudden blast of sound came from the living room and Shag jumped so hard he dropped the burgs and slammed his back into the counter.

Scoob poked his head out of the living room doorway, concerned. When he saw that Shag was just startled, he let out a malicious chuckle. “Ris rust ra ree vee, Raggy.”

Shaggy’s heart was still beating a little too fast. He rubbed his back where he’d knocked it against the counter top and he let out a tired laugh. “Like, you scared me outta my shoes, Scooby doo. You’re lucky I didn’t drop the shakes, you chaos gremlin.” He scooped up the bag and followed Scooby into the living room. 

Scoob held a paw up to his chest, doing his best impression of offended. “Remrin? I rerent rat, Raggy. Roo rinsult ry ronnor.” He jumped up onto the couch and stuck his nose in the air, almost but not quite managing to hold back a grin. 

Rolling his eyes, Shaggy flopped down on the couch next to him and passed Scoob a burger. “Like, what honor, man?”

**Author's Note:**

> heyo thanks for reading my thing, sorry if this gets a little fake deep, i’m too close to this one to see if it’s just hot garbage or not so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> i probably won’t update this regularly, it’s just a vent thing.


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